BENTONVILLE, ARK.- The Momentary ebuts two new exhibitions that explore consumer culture through the lens of supermarkets and everyday goods. The shows include Lucy Sparrow: The Beginning of Convenience, a vibrant and nostalgic felt supermarket installation, and Chuck Ramirez: Ordinary Wonders, a photography exhibition exploring the objects people buy, use and leave behind.

Her first museum exhibition in the United States, Lucy Sparrow: The Beginning of Convenience takes visitors back in time through an immersive “time capsule” installation of a 1980s-90s supermarket, with over 20,000 hand-crafted felt items, ranging from food and beverage products to beauty items and household goods. In addition, a replica of Sparrow's studio, known as the Felt Cave, and a self-produced documentary provide a look behind the scenes at her artistic journey and unique creative process. Sparrow’s labor-intensive handiwork of "convenient" supermarket wares invites us to see the familiar with new eyes.

“It is an honour to present The Beginning of Convenience at the Momentary as my debut museum exhibition in the United States. This exhibit is particularly meaningful, coming as I celebrate a decade of showing my work in America,” said British-born Sparrow. “I am especially pleased that the exhibition will be free to visit and open for a year, allowing a broad audience to visit and engage with my largest immersive installation to date.”

Chuck Ramirez was a San Antonio-based artist with a deep appreciation for material culture. For many years, his day job was as a graphic designer and art director for the Texas grocery chain H-E-B. In his commercial work, he helped sell products that lined store shelves and filled home pantries. In his personal practice, he viewed the things of our daily lives as reflections of humanity, community, memory, and loss. In Ramirez’s hands, the stuff people buy, consume, discard, or treasure are more than just objects; they are evidence of the vibrance of life.





“Both of these exhibitions inspire reverence for the everyday,” said Alejo Benedetti, curator of contemporary art. “In the case of Chuck Ramirez, his love for ‘stuff’ leads the day. In his photographs, common objects become mirrors into who we are, what we value, and how we find poetry in the otherwise mundane things that populate our lives.”